
Class. E 21k — 

Book / V p Cgg. 



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^uba "5. 5paip. 



BY 



Enrique Jose Varona, 

Ex- Deputy to the Spanish Cortes. 



Cuba vs. Spain- 



War is a dire necessity. But when a people has exhausted all 
human means of persuasion to obtain from an unjust oppressor a 
remedy for its ills, if it appeals as a last resource to force in order to 
repel the persistent aggression which constitutes tyranny, this peo- 
ple is justified before its own conscience and before the tribunal of 
nations. 

Such is the case of Cuba in its wars against Spain. No metrop- 
olis has ever been harsher or more obstinately harassing; none has 
ever exploited a colony with more greediness and less foresight than 
Spain. No colony has ever been more prudent, more long-suffering, 
more cautious, more persevering than Cuba in its purpose of asking 
for its rights by appealing to the lessons of experience and political 
wisdom. Only driven by desperation has the people of Cuba taken 
up arms, and having done so, it displays as much heroism in the 
hour of danger as it had shown good judgment in the hour of delib- 
eration. 

The history of Cuba during the present century is a long series 
of rebellions; but every one of these was preceded by a peaceful 
struggle for its rights — a fruitless struggle because of the obstinate 
blindness of Spain. 

There were patriots in Cuba from the beginning of this century, 
such as Presbyter Caballero and Don Francisco Arango, who called 
the metropolitan government's attention to the evils of the Colony, 
and pointed to the remedy by pleading for the commercial franchises 
required by its economical organization, and for the intervention of 
the natives in its government, not only as a right, but also for politi- 
cal expediency, in view of the long distance between the Colony and 
the Home Government, and the grave difficulties with which it had 
to contend. The requirements of the war with the continental col- 
onies, which were tired of Spanish tyranny, compelled the Metropol- 
itan Government to grant a certain measure of commercial libertyto 
the Island of Cuba; a temporary concession which spread prosperity 
throughout its territory, but which was not sufficient to open the 
eyes of the Spanish statesmen. On the contrary, prompted by sus- 
picion and mistrust of the Americans, they began by curtailing, and 
shortly after abrogated the limited administrative powers then pos- 
sessed by some of the corporations in Cuba, such as the "Junta de 
Foniento,"—- (a board for the encouragement of internal improve- 
ments), 



As if this were not enough, the Cubans were deprived of the lit- 
tle show of political intervention they had in public affairs. By a 
simple Eoyal Decree in 1837 the small representation of Cuba in the 
Spanish Cortes was suppressed, and all the powers of the govern- 
ment were concentrated in the hands of the Capitan General, on 
whom authority was conferred to act as the governor of a city in a 
state of siege. This implied that the Capitan General, residing in 
Havana, was master of the life and property of every inhabitant of 
the Island of Cuba. This meant that Spain declared a permanent 
state of war against a peaceful and defenceless people. 

Cuba saw its most illustrious sons, such as Heredia and Saco, 
wander in exile throughout the free American Continent. Cuba saw 
as many of the Cubans as dared to love liberty and declare it by act 
or word, die on the scaffold, such as Joaquin de Aguero and Placido. 
Cuba saw the product of its people's labor confiscated by iniquitous 
fiscal laws imposed by its masters from afar. Cuba saw the admin- 
istration of justice in the hands of foreign magistrates, who acted at 
the will or the whim of its rulers. Cuba suffered all the outrages 
that can humiliate a conquered people, in the name and by the work 
of a government that sarcastically calls itself paternal. Is it to be 
wondered then that an uninterrupted era of conspiracies and upris- 
ings should have been inaugurated ? Cuba in its despair took up 
arms in 1850 and 1851, conspired again in 1855, waged war in 1868, 
in 1879, in 1885, and is fighting now, since the 24th of February of 
the present year. 

But at the same time Cuba has never ceased to ask for justice 
and redress. Its people, before shouldering the rifle, pleaded for 
their rights. Before the pronunciamento of Aguero and the invas- 
ions of Lopez, Saco, in exile, exposed the dangers of Cuba to the 
Spanish statesmen, and pointed to the remedy. Other far sighted 
men seconded him in the Colony. They denounced the cancer nf 
slavery, the horrors of the traffic in slaves, the corruption of the office 
holders, the abuses of the government, the discontent of the people 
with their forced state of political tutelage. No attention was given 
to them, and this brought on the first armed conflicts. 

Before the formidable insurrection of 1868, which lasted ten 
years, the reform party, which included the most enlightened, wealthy 
and influential Cubans, exhausted all the resources within their 
reach to induce Spain to initiate a healthy change in her Cuban 
policy. The party started the publication of periodicals in Madrid 
and in the Island, addressed petitions, maintained a great agitation 
throughout the country, and having succeeded in leading the Spanish 
Government to make an inquiry into the economical, political and 
social condition of Cuba, they presented a complete plan of govern- 
ment which satisfied public requirements as well as the aspirations 
of the people. The Spanish Government disdainfully cast aside the 
proposition as useless, increased taxation, and proceeded to its exac- 
tion with extreme severity. 



it was then that the ten-year war broke out. Cuba, almost a 
pigmy compared with Spain, fought like a giant. Blood ran in tor- 
rents. Public wealth disappeared in a bottomless abyss. Spain lost 
200,000 men. Whole districts of Cuba were left almost entirely with- 
out their male population. Seven hundred millions were spent to feed 
that conflagration — a conflagration that tested Cuban heroism, but 
which could not touch the hardened heart of Spain. The latter 
could not subdue the bleeding Colony, which had no longer strength 
to prolong the struggle with any prospect of success. Spain pro- 
posed a compact, which was a snare and a deceit. She granted to 
Cuba the liberties of Puerto Eico, which enjoyed none. 

On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, through- 
out which has run a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, 
whose mind had not changed, hastened to change the name of things. 
The Capitan General was called Governor General. The royal de- 
crees took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of 
Spain was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was trans- 
formed into the law of vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenceless 
citizens were called " componte." The abolition of constitutional 
guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without the 
consent or knowledge of the Cuban people was changed into the law 
of estimates (budget) voted by the representatives of Spain, that is, 
of European Spain. 

The painful lesson of the ten-year war had been entirely lost on 
Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming policy that would heal 
the recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench the thirst for 
justice felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their natural 
rights, the Metropolis, while lavish in promises of reform, persisted 
in carrying on unchanged its old and crafty system, the groundwork 
of which continues to be the same, namely: To exclude every native 
Cuban from every office that could give him any effective influence 
and intervention in public affairs; the ungovernable exploitation of 
the colonists' labor for the benefit of Spanish commerce and Spanish 
bureaucracy, both civil and military. To carry out the latter pur- 
pose it was necessary to maintain the former at any cost. 

I. 

In order to render the native Cuban powerless in his own coun- 
try, Spain, legislating for Cuba without restriction, as it does, had 
only to give him an electoral law so artfully framed as to accomplish 
two objects: First, to reduce the number of voters; second, to give 
always a majority to the Spaniards, that is, to the European colon- 
ists, notwithstanding that the latter represent only 9.3 per cent, of 
the total population of Cuba- To this effect it made the electoral 
right dependent on the payment of a very high poll tax, which proved 
the more burdensome as the war had ruined the larger number of 
Cuban proprietors. In this way it succeeded in restricting the right 



8 

of suffrage to only 53,000 inhabitants in an island which has a popula- 
tion of 1,600,000; that is to say, to the derisive proportion of 3 per 
cent, of the total number of inhabitants. 

In order to give a decided preponderance to the Spanish Euro- 
pean element, the electoral law has ignored the practice generally 
observed in those countries where the right to vote depends on the 
payment of a poll tax. and has afforded all the facilities to acquire 
the electoral privilege to industry, commerce and public officials, to 
the detriment of the territorial property (the ownership of real 
estate). To accomplish this, while the rate of the territorial tax is 
reduced to 2 per cent., an indispensable measure, in view of the ruin- 
ous condition of the land-owners, the exorbitant contribution of $25 
is required from those who would be electors as free-holders. The 
law has, moreover, thrown the doors wide open for the perpetration 
of fraud by providing that the simple declaration of the head of a com- 
mercial house is sufficient to consider all its employees as partners, hav- 
ing, therefore, the right to vote. This has given us firms with thirtv 
or more partners. By this simple scheme almost all the Spaniards 
residing in Cuba are turned into electors, despite the explicit provis- 
ions of the law. Thus it comes to pass that the municipal district of 
Guines, with a population of 13,000 inhabitants, only 500 of which 
are Spaniards and Canary Islanders, shows on its electoral list the 
names of 32 native Cubans and of 400 Spaniards — only 0.25 per cent, 
of the Cuban to 80 per cent, of the Spanish population ! 

But, as if this were not enough, a so-called Permanent Commis- 
sion of Provincial Deputations decides every controversy that may 
arise as to who is to be included in or excluded from the list of elec- 
tors, and the members of this Commission are appointed by the Gov- 
ernor Genera). It is unnecessary to say that its majority has always 
been devoted to the government. In case any elector considers him- 
self wronged by the decision of the Permanent Commission, he can 
appeal to the "Audiencia " (higher court) of the district; but the 
"Audiencias " are almost entirely made up of European magistrates; 
they are subject to the authority of the Governor General, being 
mere political tools in his hands. As a conclusive instance of the 
manner in which those tribunals do justice to the claims of the Cuban 
electors, it will be sufficient to cite a case which occurred in Santa 
Clara in 1892, where one thousand fully qualified liberal electors 
were excluded at one time, for the simple omission to state their 
names at the end of the act presented by the elector who 
headed the claim. In more than one case has the same "Audi- 
encia " applied two different criterions to identical cases. The 
"Audiencia " of Havana, in 1887, ignoring the explicit provisions 
of the law, excused the employees from the condition of residence, 
a condition that the same tribunal exacted before. The same 
"Audiencia " in 1885 declared that the contributions to the State 
and to the Municipality were accumulative, and in 1887 decided 



the opposite. This inconsistency had for its object to spunge 
from the lists hundreds of Cuban electors. In this way the Spanish 
Government and tribunals have endeavored to teach respect for 
the law and for the practice of wholesome electoral customs to 
the Cuban colonists! 

It will be easily understood now why on some occasions the 
Cuban representation in the Spanish Parliament has been made 
up of only three deputies, and in the most favorable epochs the 
number of Cuban representatives has not exceeded six. Three 
deputies in a body of four hundred and thirty members! The 
genuine representation of Cuba has not reached sometimes 
0.96 per cent, of the total number of members of the Spanish 
Congress. The great majority of the Cuban deputation has always 
consisted of Spanish Peninsulars. In this manner, the ministers 
of "Ultramar" (ministers of the Colonies), whenever they have 
thought necessary to give an honest or decent appearance to their 
legislative acts by an alleged majority of Cubau votes, could always 
command the latter, that is, the Peninsulars. 

As regards the representation in the Senate, the operation 
has been more simple still. The qualifications required to be a 
Senator have proved to be an almost absolute prohibition to the 
Cubans. In fact, to take a seat in the higher house, it is neces- 
sary to have been president of that body or of Congress, or a 
minister of the crown, or a bishop, or a grandee of Spain, a 
lieutenant general, a vice admiral, ambassador, minister plenipoten- 
tiary, counsellor of State, judge or attorney general of the Su- 
preme Court, of the Court of Accounts, &c. No Cuban has ever 
filled any of the above positions, and scarcely two or three are 
grandees. The only natives of Cuba who can be Senators are 
those who have been deputies in three different Congresses, or who 
are professors and have held for four years a university chair, 
provided that they have an income of $1,500; or those who have 
a title of nobility, or have been deputies, provincial deputies, 
or mayors in towns of over 20,000 inhabitants, if they have in 
addition an income of $4,000, or pay a direct contribution of 
$800 to the Treasury. This will increase in one or two dozen the 
number of Cubans qualified to be Senators. 

In this manner has legislative work, as far as Cuba is concerned, 
turned out to be a farce. The various governments have legislated for 
the Island as they pleased. The representatives of the peninsular 
provinces did not even take the trouble of attending the sessions of 
the Cortes when Cuban affairs were to be dealt with ; and there was 
an instance when the estimates (budget) for the Great Antille were 
discussed in the presence of less than thirty deputies, and a single 
one of the ministers, the minister of "Ultramar," (session of April 3, 
1880). 

Through the contrivance of the law, as well as through the ir- 
regularities committed and consented in its application, have the 



10 

Cubans been deprived also of representation in the local corporations 
to which they were entitled, and in many cases they have been en- 
tirely excluded from them. When, despite the legalized obstacles 
and the partiality of those in power, they have obtained some tem- 
porary majority, the government has always endeavored and suc- 
ceeded in making their triumph null and void. Only once did the 
home-rule party obtain a majority in the Provincial deputation of 
Havana, and then the Governor General appointed from among the 
Spaniards a majority of the members of the Permanent Commission. 
Until that time this Commission had been of the same political com- 
plexion as the majority of the Deputation. By such proceedings have 
the Cubans been gradually expelled, even from the municipal bodies. 
Suffice it to say that the law provides that the derramas (assessments) 
be excluded from the computation of the tributary quotas, notwith- 
standing that they constitute the heaviest burden upon the municipal 
tax-payer. And the majorities, consisting of Spaniards, take good 
care to make this burden fall with heavier weight upon the Cuban 
proprietor. Thus the latter has to bear a heavier taxation with less 
representation. 

This is the reason why the scandalous case has occured lately of 
not a single Cuban having a seat in the "Ayuntamiento" (Board of 
Aldermen) of Havana. In 1891 the Spaniards predominated in 
thirty-one out of thirty-seven "Ayuntamientos" in the province of 
Havana. In that of Giiines, with a population of 12,500 Cuban in- 
habitants, not a single one of the latter was found among its coun- 
cillors. In the same epoch there were only three Cuban deputies in 
the Provincial Deputation of Havana; two in that of Matanzas, and 
three in that of Santa Clara. And these are the most populous re- 
gions in the Island of Cuba. 

As, on the other hand, the government of the Metropolis appoints 
the officials of the Colony, all the lucrative, influential and represen- 
tative offices are secured to the Spaniards from Europe. The Gover- 
nor General, the regional and provincial governors, the "intendentes", 
comptrollers, auditors, treasurers, chiefs of communications, chiefs 
of the custom houses, chiefs of administration, presidents and vice 
presidents of the Spanish Bank, secretaries of the government, pre- 
siding judges of the "Audiencia," presidents of tribunal, magistrates, 
attorneys general, archbishops, bishops, canons, pastors of rich 
parishes, all, with very rare exceptions, are Spaniards from Spain. 
The Cubans are found only as minor clerks in the government offices, 
doing all the work and receiving the smallest salaries. 

From 1878 to this date there have been twenty governors in the 
province of Matanzas. Eighteen were Spaniards and two Cubans. 
But one of these, Brigadier General Acosta, was an army officer in 
the service of Spain, who had fought against his countrymen; and the 
other, Seiior Gonzalez Murioz, is a bureaucrat. During the same 
period there has been only one native Cuban acting as governor in 
the province of Havana, Seiior Eodriguez Batista, who spent all his 



11 

life in Spain, where he made his administrative career. In the other 
provinces there has never probably been a single governor born in 
the country. 

In 1887 there was created a council or board of Ultramar under 
the Minister of the Colonies. Not a single Cuban has ever been 
found among its members. On the other hand, such men as Generals 
Armihan and Pando have held positions in it. 

The predominance of the government goes farther still. It 
weighs with all its might upon the local corporations. There are 
deputations in the provinces, and not only are their powers restricted 
and their resources scanty, but the Governor General appoints their 
presidents and all the members of the permanent commissions. 
There are "Ayuntamientos" elected in accordance with the reac- 
tionary law of 1877, restricted and curtailed as applied to Cuba by 
Sehor Canovas. But the Governor General appoints the mayors, 
who may not belong to the corporation, and the governor of the 
province appoints the secretaries. The government reserves, more- 
over, the right to remove the mayors, of replacing them, and of 
supending the councillors and the "Ayuntamientos," partly or in a 
body. It has frequently made use of this right, for electoral pur- 
poses, to the detriment always of the Cubans. 

As may be seen, the crafty policy of Spain has closed every 
avenue through which redress might be obtained. All the powers 
are centered in the government of Madrid and its delegates in the 
Colony; and, in order to give her despotism a slight varnish of a 
representative regime, she has contrived with her laws to secure com- 
plaisant majorities in the pseudo-elective bodies. To accomplish 
this purpose she has relied upon the European immigrants, who have 
always supported the government of. the Metropolis, in exchange for 
lasting privileges. The existence of a Spanish party, as that of an 
English party at one time in Canada, has been the foundation of 
Spanish rule in Cuba. Thus, through the instrumentality of the 
laws and the government a regime of castes has been enthroned 
there, with its outcome of monopolies, corruption, immorality and 
hatred. The political contest there, far from being the fruitful clash 
of opposite ideas, or the opposition of men representing different 
tendencies, but all seeking a social improvement, has been only a 
struggle between hostile factions, the conflict between infuriaed foes, 
which precedes an open war. The Spanish resident has always seen 
a threat in the most timid protest of the Cuban, — an attack upon the 
privileged position on which his fortune, his influence and his power 
are grounded; and he is always willing to stifle it with insult and 
persecution. 



12 



II. 



What use the Spanish government has made of this power is 
apparent in the threefold spoliation to which it has submitted the 
Island of Cuba. Spain has not, in fact, a colonial policy. In the 
distant lands she has subdued by force, Spain has sought nothing but 
immediate riches, and these it has wrung by might from the com- 
pulsory labor of the natives. For this reason Spam to-day in Cuba 
is only a parasite. Spain exploits the Island of Cuba through its 
fiscal regime, through its commercial regime and through its bureau- 
cratic regime. These are the three forms of official spoliation; but 
they are not the only forms of spoliation. 

When the war of 1878 came to an end, two thirds of the Island 
were completely ruined. The other third, the population of which 
had remained peaceful, was abundantly productive; but it had to 
face the great economical change involved in the impending abolition 
of slavery. Slavery had received its death blow at the hands of the 
insurrection, and Cuban insurrectionists succeeded at the close of 
the war in securing its eventual abolition. Evidently it would have 
been a wholesome and provident policy to lighten the fiscal burdens 
of a country in such a condition. Spain was only bent on making 
Cuba pay the cost of the war. The Metropolis overwhelmed the 
Colony with enormous budgets, reaching as high a figure as forty-six 
million dollars, and this only to cover the obligations of the State; or 
rather, to fill up the unfathomable gulf left by the wastefulness and 
plunder of the civil and military administration during the years of 
war, and to meet the expenses of the military occupation of the 
country. Here follow a few figures. The Budget for the fiscal year 
of 1878 to 1879 amounted to $46,594,000; that of 1879 to 1880 to an 
equal sum; that of 1882 to 1883 to $35,860,000; that of 1883 to 1884 
to $34,180,000; that of 1884 to 1885 to the same sum; that of 1885 to 
1886 to $34,169,000. For the remaining years, to the present time, 
the amount of the budget has been about $26,000,000, this being the 
figure for 1893 to 1894, and to be the same by prorogation for the 
current fiscal year. 

The gradual reduction that may be noted was not the result of 
a desire to reduce the overwhelming burdens that weigh upon the 
country; it was imposed by necessity, Cuba was not able by far to 
meet such a monstrous exaction. It was a continuous and threat- 
ening deficit that imposed these reductions. In the first of the above 
named years the revenue was $8,000,000 short of the budget or ap- 
propriations. In the second year the deficit reached the sum of 
$20,0.0,000. In 1883 it was nearly $10,000,000. In the following 
years the deficits averaged nearly $4,500,000. At present the ac- 
cumulated amount of all these deficits reaches the sum of $100,- 
000,000. 



13 

As a consequence of such a reckless and senseless financial 
course, the debt of Cuba has been increased to a fabulous sum. In 
1868 we owed $25,000,000. When the present war broke out our 
debt, it was calculated, reached the net sum of $190,000,000. On 
the 31st of July of the current year the Island of Cuba was reckoned 
to owe $295,707,264 in bulk. Considering its population, the debt 
of Cuba exceeds that of all the other American countries, including 
the United States. The Interest on tbis debt imposes a barden of 
$9.79 on each inhabitant. The French people, the most over- 
burdened in this respect, owes only $6.30 per inhabitant. 

This enormous debt, contracted and saddled upon the country 
without its knowledge; this heavy load that grinds it and does not 
permit its people to capitalize their income, to foster its improve- 
ments, or even to entertain its industries, constitutes one of the most 
iniquitous forms of spoliation the Island has to bear. In it are in- 
cluded a debt of Spain to the United States; the expenses incurred 
by Spain when she occupied San Domingo; those for the invasion of 
Mexico in alliance with France and England; the expenditures f oi- 
lier hostilies against Peru; the money advanced to the Spanish 
Treasury during its recent Carlist wars; and all that Spain has spent 
to uphold its domination in Cuba and to cover the lavish ex- 
penditures of its administration since 1868. Not a cent of this 
enormous sum has been spent in Cuba to advance the work of im- 
provement and civilization. It has not contributed to build a single 
kilometre of highway or of railroad, nor to erect a single light-house, 
or deepen a single port; it has not built one asylum or opened one 
public school. Such a heavy burden has been left to the future 
generations, without a single compensation or benefit. 

But the naked figures of the Cuban budgets and of the Cuban 
debt tell very little in regard to their true importance and signi- 
fication as machines to squeeze out the substance of a people's labor. 
It is necessary to examine closer the details of these accounts and 
expenditures. 

Those of Cuba according to the last budgets or appropriations 
amount to $26,411,314, distributed as follows: 

General obligations, $12,884,549.55 

Department of Justice (courts, etc.), - 1,006,308.51 

Department of War, 5,918,598.16 

Department of the Treasury, 727.892.45 

Department of the Navy, 1,091,969.65 

Government, Administration, - - - - 4,035,071.43 

Interior Improvements (Fomento), - 746,925.15 

There are in Cuba 1,631,687 inhabitants, according to the last 
census, that of 1887. That is to say, that this budget burdens them 
in the proportion of $16.18 for each inhabitant. The Spaniards in 
Spain pay only — 42.06 pesetas per head. Reducing the Cuban 
dollars to pesetas at the exchange rate of 95 dollars for 500 pesetas, 



14 

there results that the Cubans have to pay a tribute of 85.16 pesetas 
for each inhabitant; more than double the amount a Spaniard has to 
pay in his European country. 

As shown abo-ve, most of this excessive burden is to cover 
entirely unproductive expenditures. The debt consumes 40.89 per 
cent, of the total amount. The defence of the country, against its 
own native inhabitants, the only enemies who threaten Spain, in- 
cluding the cost of the army, the navy, the civil guard, and the 
guardians of public order, takes 36 59 per cent. There remains for 
all the other expenolitures required by civilized life 22.52 per cent. 
And of this percentage the State reserves to us, what a liberality ! 
2.75 per cent, to prepare for the future and develop the resources of 
the country ! 

Let us see now what Spain has done to permit at least the de- 
velopment of natural wealth and the industry of a country impover- 
ished by this fiscal regime, the work of cupidity, incompetency and 
immorality. Let us see whether that nation has left at least some 
vitality to Cuba, in order to continue exploiting it with some profit. 

The economical organization of Cuba is of the simplest kind. 
It produces to export, and imports almost everything it consumes. 
In view of this, it is evident that all that Cuba required from the 
State was that it should not hamper its work with excessive burdens, 
nor hinder its commercial relations; so that it could buy cheap where 
it suited her, and sell her products with profit. Spain has done ^11 
the contrary. She has treated the tobacco as an enemy; she has loaded 
the sugar with excessive imposts; she has shackled with excessive and 
abusive excise duties the cattle-raising industry; and with her legis- 
lative doings and undoings she has thrown obstacles in the way of the 
mining industry. And to cap the climax, she has tightly bound Cuba 
in the network of a monstruous tariff and a commercial legislation 
which subjects the Colony, at the end of the nineteenth century, to 
the ruinous monopoly of the producers and merchants of certain 
regions of Spain, as in the halcyon days of the colonial compact. 

The district which produces the best tobacco in the world, the 
famous Vuelta Abajo, lacks every means of transportation afforded 
by civilization, to foster and increase the value of its products. No 
roads, no bridges or even ports are found there. The State in Cuba 
collects the taxes, but does not invest them for the benefit of any 
industry. On the other hand, those foreign countries, desirous of 
acquiring the rich tobacco-raising industry, have closed their markets 
to our privileged product, by imposing upon it excessive import 
duties, while the Spanish government burdens its exportation from 
our ports with a duty of $1.80 on every thousand cigars. Is this not 
a stroke of actual insanity ? 

Everybody is awars of the tremendous crisis through which the 
sugar industry has been passing for some years, owing to the rapid 
development of the production of this article everywhere. Every 
government has hastened to protect its own by more or less em- 



15 

pirical measures. This is not the place to judge them. What is im- 
portant is to recall the fact that they have endeavored to place the 
threatened industry, in the best condition to withstand the com- 
petition. What has Spain done in order, if not to maintain the strong 
position held before by Cuba, at least to enable the Colony to carry 
on the competiou with its every day more formidable rivals ? Spain 
pays bounties to the sugar produced within its own territory, and 
closes its markets to the Cuban sugar, by imposing upon it an im- 
port duty of $6.20 per hundred kilograms. It has been calculated 
that a hundredweight of Cuban sugar is overburdened when reach- 
ing the Barcelona market with 143 per cent, of its value. The 
Spanish government oppresses the Cuban producer with every kind 
of exactions; taxes the introduction of the machinery that is indis- 
pensable for the production of sugar, obstructs its transportation 
by imposing heavy taxes on the railroads, and winds up the work by 
exacting another contribution called industrial duty, and still an- 
other for loading or shipping, which is equivalent to an export duty. 
As a last stroke, Spain has reinforced the commercial laws of June 
30 and July 20, 1882, virtually closing the ports of Cuba to foreign 
commerce, and establishing the monopoly of the Peninsular pro- 
ducers, without any compensation to the Colony. The apparent 
object of these laws was to establish the " cabotaje" (coasting trade) 
between Cuba and Spain. By the former all the Cuban products 
were admitted free of duty in the Spanish Peninsula, excepting, 
however, the tobacco, rum, sugar, cocoa and coffee, which remained 
temporarily burdened. By the latter the duties on the importations 
from Spain in Cuba were to be gradually reduced through a period 
of ten years, until, in 1892, they were entirely abolished. The 
result, however, has been that the temporary duties on the principal, 
almost the only, Cuban products have remained undisturbed until 
now, and the duties on the Spanish products have disappeared. The 
"cabotage" (coasting trade) is carried on from Spain to Cuba, but 
not from Cuba to Spain. The Spanish products pay no duties in 
Cuba; the Cuban products pay heavy duties in Spain. As at the 
same time the differential tariffs which overburdened with excessive 
duties the foreign products have been retained, the unavoidable 
consequence has been to give the Cuban market entirely to the 
Peninsular producers. In order to have an idea as to how far the 
monopoly of Spain goes, it will be sufficient to point to the fact that 
the burdens which many of the foreign articles have to bear exceed 
2000 and even 2300 per cent., as compared with those borne by the 
Spanish products. One hundred kilograms of cotton prints pay a 
duty, if Spanish, of $26.65; if foreign,' $47.26. One hundred kilo- 
grams of knitted goods pay, if from Spain, $10.95; if from a foreign 
country, $195. One thousand kilograms of bags for sugar, when they 
are or are represented to be Spanish, pay $4.69; if from other country 
$82.50. One hundred kilograms of cassimere, if it is a Spanish pro- 
duct, pay $15.47; if foreign, $300. 



16 

Still, if Spain was a flourishing industrial country, and produced 
the principal articles required by Cuba for the consumption of its 
people, or for developing and fostering its industries, the evil, 
although always great, would be a lesser one. But everybody knows 
the backwardness of the Spanish industries, and the inability of 
Spain to supply Cuba with the products she requires for her con- 
sumption and industries. The Cubans have to consume or use 
Spanish articles of inferior quality, or pay exorbitant prices for 
foreign goods. The Spanish merchants have found, moreover, a new 
source of fraud in the application of these antiquated and iniquitous 
laws; it consists in nationalizing foreign products for importation 
into Cuba. 

As the mainspring of this senseless commercial policy is to sup- 
port the monopoly of Spanish commerce, when Spain has been com- 
pelled to deviate from it to a certain extent by an international 
treaty, it has done so reluctantly, and in the anxious expectation of 
an opportunity to nullify its own promises. This explains the 
accidental history of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, 
which was received with joy by Cuba, obstructed by the Spanish 
administration, and prematurely abolished by the Spanish Govern- 
ment as soon as it saw an opportunity. 

The injury done to Cuba, and the evil effects produced by this 
commercial legislation, are beyond calculation; its effects have been 
material losses which have engendered profound discontent. The 
"Circulo de Hacendados y Agricultores," the wealthiest corporation 
of the Island, last year passed judgment on these commercial laws in 
the following severe terms: 

"It would be impossible to explain, should the attempt be made* 
what is the signification of the present commercial laws, as regards 
any economical or political plan or system; because, economically, 
they aim at the destruction of public wealth, and, politically, they 
are the cause of inextinguishable discontent, and contain the germs of 
grave dissensions." 

But Spain has not taken heed of this; her only care has been to 
keep the producers and merchants of such rebellious provinces as 
Catalonia contented, and to satisfy its military men and bureaucrats. 

For the latter is reserved the best part of the booty taken from 
Cuba. High salaries and the power of extortion for the office-holders 
sent to the Colony; regular tributes for the politicians who uphold 
them in the Metropolis. The Governor General is paid a salary of 
$50,000, in addition to a palace, a country house as a summer resort, 
servants, coaches and a fund for secret expenses at his disposal. 
The Director General of the Treasury receives a salary of $18,500. 
The Archbishop of Santiago and the Bishop of Havana, $18,000 each. 
The Commander General of the "Apostadero" (naval station), 
$16,392. The General Seguudo Cabo (second in command of the 



17 

Island), and the President of the "Audiencia," $15,000 each. The 
Governor of Havana and the Secretary of the General Government, 
$8,000 each. The Postmaster General, $5,000. The Collector of the 
Havana Custom House, $4,000. The Manager of Lotteries, the same 
salary. The Chief Clerks of Administration of the first class receive 
$5,000 each; those of the second class, $4,000, and those of the third 
class $3,000 each. The major Generals, are paid $7,500; the briga- 
diers general, $4,500, and when in command $5,000; the colonels, 
$3,450;' and this salary is increased when they are in command of a 
regiment. The captains of "navio" (the largest men-of-war) receive 
$6,300; the captains of frigate, $4,560; the lieutenants of "navio" of 
the first class, $3,370. All these functionaries are entitled to free 
lodgings and domestic servants. Then follows the numberless crowd 
of minor officials, all well provided for, and with great facilities bet- 
ter to provide for themselves. 

At the office of the Minister of "Ultramar" (of the Colonies), 
who resides in Madrid, and to whom $96,800 a year are assigned 
from th«3 treasury of Cuba, — at that office begins the saturnalia in 
which the Spanish bureaucrats indulge with the riches of Cuba. 
Sometimes through incapacity, but more frequently for plunder, the 
money exacted from the Cuban taxpayers is unscrupulously and 
irresponsibly squandered. It has been demonstrated that the 
debt of Cuba has been increased in $50,232,500 through Minister 
Fabie's incapacity. At the time this minister was in power the 
Spanish Bank disposed of twenty millions from the Cuban treasury, 
which were to be carried in account current at the disposal of the 
Minister for the famous operation of withdrawing the paper currency. 
Cuba paid the interest on these millions, and continued paying it all 
the time they were utilized by the Bank. Minister Bomero Bobledo 
took at one time (in 1892) one million' dollars belonging to the trea- 
sury of Cuba from the vaults of the Bank of Spain, and lent it to the 
Transatlantic Company, of which he was a stockholder. This was 
done in defiance of law, and without any authorization whatever. 
The Minister was threatened with prosecution; but he haughtily 
replied that, if prosecuted, all his predecessors from every political 
party, would have to accompany him to the Court. That threat came 
to nothing. 

In June of 1890 there was a scandalous debate in the Spanish 
Cortes, in which some of the frauds committedd upon the Cuban 
treasury were, not for the first time, brought to light. It was then 
made public that $6,500,000 had been abstracted from the "Caja de 
Depositos," notwithstanding that the safe was locked with three 
keys, and each one was in the possession of a different functionary. 
Tlien it was known that, under the pretext of false vouchers for 
transportation and fictitious bills for provisions, during the previous 
war, defalcations had been found afterwards amounting to S22,811,- 
516. In the month of March of the same year General Pando 



18 

affirmed that the robberies committed through the issue of war- 
rants by the "Junta de la Deuda (Board of the Public Debt) exceeded 
the sum of $12,000,000. 

These are only a few of the most salient facts. The large num- 
ber of millions mentioned above represent only an insignificant part 
of what a venal administration, sure of impunity, exacts from Cuban 
labor. The network of artful schemes to cheat the Cuban tax-payer 
and defraud the State covers everything. Falisification of documents, 
embezzlement of revenues, bargains with delinquent debtors, exaction 
of higher dues from inexperienced peasants, delays in the despatch 
of judicial proceedings in order to obtain a more or less considerable 
gratuity; such are the artful means daily employed to empty the 
purse of the tax-payer and to divert the public funds into the pockets 
of the functionaries. 

These disgaceful transactions have more than once been brought 
out to light; more than once have the prevaricators been pointed 
out. Is there any record of any of them having ever been punished? 

In August of 1887 General Marin entered the Custom House of 
Havana at the head of a military force, besieged and occupied it; 
investigated the operations carried on there, and discharged every 
employee. The act caused a great stir; but not a single one of the 
officials was indicted, or suffered a further punishment. There were 
in 1891 three hundred and fifty officials indicted in Cuba for commit- 
ing fraud; not one of them was punished. 

But, how could they be punished ? Every official who comes to 
Cuba has an influential patron in the Court of Madrid for whose pro- 
tection he pays with regularity. This is a public secret. General 
Salamanca gave it out in plain words, and before and after General 
Salamanca all Spain knew and knows it. The political leaders are 
well known who draw the highest income from the office holders of 
Cuba,who are, as a matter of course, the most fervent advocates of 
the necessity of Spanish rule in Cuba. But Spanish bureaucracy is 
moreover so deep-rooted in Spain, that it has succeeded in shield- 
ing itself even against the action of the courts of justice. There is a 
royal decree (that of 1882) in force in Cuba, which provides that the 
ordinary courts cannot take cognizance of such offences as defalca- 
tion, abstraction or malversation of public funds, forgery, &c, com- 
mitted by officials of the administration, if their guilt is not first 
established by an administrative investigation. The administration 
is, therefore, its own judge. What further security does the corrupt 
office holder need ? 



19 



III, 



We have shown that, notwithstanding the promises of Spain and 
the ostensible changes introduced in the government of Cuba since 
1878, the Spaniards from Europe have governed and ruled exclusively 
in Cuba, and have continued exploiting it until they have ruined the 
country. Can this tyrannical system be justified by any kind of benefits 
that might compensate for the deprivation of actual power of which 
the natives of the colony complain? More than one despotic govern- 
ment has tried to justify itself with the material prosperity it has 
fostered, or with the safety it has secured to its citizens, or with the 
liberty it has given to certain manifestations of civilized life. Let us 
see whether the Cubans are indebted to the iron government of Spain 
for any of these compensating blessings. 

Personal safety is a myth among us. Outlaws, as well as men of 
law, have disposed at will of the property, the peace and the life of 
the inhabitants of Cuba. The civil guard (armed police), far from be- 
ing the guardians, have been the terror of the Cuban peasants. Wher- 
ever they pass they cause an alarm by the brutal ill-treatment to 
which they submit the inhabitants, who, in many cases, fly from their 
homes at their approach. Under the most trifling pretext they beat 
unmercifully the defenceless countrymen, and very frequently they 
have killed those they were conveying under arrest. These outrages 
became so notorious, that the commander-in-chief of the civil guard, 
Brigadier General Denis, had to issue a circular, in which he declared 
that his subordinates, "under pretext of obtaining confidential inform- 
ation, resorted to violent measures" and that "the cases are very frequent 
in which individuals arrested by forces of the corps attempt to escape, 
and the keepers find themselves in the necessity of making use of their 
weapons." What the above declarations signify is evident, notwith- 
standing the euphemisms of the official language. The object of this 
circular was to put a stop to these excesses; it bears the date of 1883. 
But the state of things continued the same. In 1886 the watering 
place of Madruga, one of the most frequented summer resorts in the 
island, witnessed the outrageous attacks of Lieutenant Sainz. In 1887 
occurred the stirring trial of the "componte," occasioned by the appli- 
cation of torture to the brothers Aruca, and within a few days were 
recorded in the neighborhood of Havana the cases of Sehor Riveron, 
who was stabbed in Govea by individuals of the public force; of Don 
Manuel Martinez Moran and Don Francisco Galanena, who were 
beaten, the former in Calabazar, and the latter in Taguajay; of Don 
Jose Felipe Canosa, who narrowly escaped being murdered in San 
Nicolas, and of a resident of Ceiba Mocha, whom the civil guard 
drove from bis home. 



20 

This was far from the worst. In the very centre of Havana, in 
the Camp de Marte, a prisoner war killed by his guards, and the 
shooting at Amarillas and the murders at Puentes Grandes and Al- 
quizar are deeds of woeful fame in the country. The administration 
of General Prendergast has left a sorrowful recollection for the 
frequency with which prisoners who attempted to escape were shot 
down. 

While the armed police force were beating and murdering peace- 
ful inhabitants, the highwaymen were allowed to escape uuscathed to 
devastate the country at their pleasure. Although three millions are 
assigned in the budget to the service of public safety, there are dis- 
tricts, such as the Province of Puerto Principe, where its inhabitants 
have had to arm themselves and undertake the pursuit of the bandits. 
The case has occurred of an army of five or six thousand troops 
being sent to pursue a handful of highwaymen within a small terri- 
tory, without succeeding in capturing them. Meanwhile a special 
bureau was established in Havana for the persecution of highway- 
men, and fabulous sums were spent by it. The best the government 
succeeded in doing was to bargain with a bandit, and deceive and kill 
him afterwards on board the steamer Baldomero Iglesias in the bay 
of Havana. 

Nevertheless, the existence of highwaymen has served as a pre- 
text to curtail the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts, and submit the 
Cubans to the jurisdiction of the courts martial, contrary to the Con- 
stitution of the State, which had already been proclaimed. In fact, 
the Code of Military Laws (Codigo de Justicia Militar) provides that 
the offenses against persons and the means of transportation, as well 
as arson, when committed in the Provinces of Ultramar (the Colonies) 
and the possessions of Africa and Oceania, be tried by court martial. 

It is true, however, than an explicit legal text was not necessary 
for the government to nullify the precepts of the Constitution. This 
was promulgated in Cuba with a preamble providing that the Gov- 
ernor General and his delegates should retain the same powers they 
had before its promulgation. The banishment of Cubans have con- 
tinued after as before said promulgation. In December of 1891 there 
was a strike of wharf laborers in the Province of Santa Clara. To 
end it the Governor captured the strikers and banished them en masse 
to the Island of Pinos. 

The deportations for political offences have not been discon- 
tinued in Cuba, and although it is stated that no executions for politi- 
cal offences have taken place since 1878, it is because the government 
has resorted to the more simple expedient of assassination. General 
Polavieja has declared with utmost coolness that in December of 1880 
he had 265 persons seized in Cuba, Palma, San Luis, Songo, Guanta- 
namo and Sagua de Tanamo, and transported the same day and at the 
same hour to the African Island of Fernando Po. At the close of the 
insurrection of 1879-1880 it was a frequent occurrence for the govern- 



21 

ment to send to the penal colonies of Africa the Cubans who had capi- 
tulated. The treachery of which General Jose Maceo was a victim 
carries us to the darkest times of the War of Flanders and the Con- 
quest of America. 

Cuba recalls with horror, the dreadful assassination of Brigadier 
General Arcadio Leyte Yidal, perpetrated in the bay of Nipe in Sep- 
tember of 1879. War had just Droken out anew in the Eastern De- 
partment. Brigadier General Leyte Vidal resided in Mayari, assured 
by the solemn promise of the Spanish commander-in-chief of that 
zone that he would not be molested. One month had not elapsed 
since the uprising, however, when having gone to Nipe, he was in- 
vited by the commander of the gunboat "Alarma" to take dinner on 
board. Leyte Vidal went on board the gunboat, but never returned. 
He was strangled in a boat by three sailors, and his corpse was cast 
into the sea. This villanous deed was committed in compliance with 
an order from the Spanish General Polavieja. Francisco Leyte Vidal, 
a cousin to Arcadio, miraculously escaped the same tragic fate. 

The mysterious deaths of Cubans who had capitulated long be- 
fore have been frequent in Cuba. To one of these deaths was due the 
uprising of Tunas de Bayamo in 1879. 

If the personal safety of the Cubans, in a period which the Span- 
iards would depict with brilliant colors, continues at the mercy of 
their rulers, who are aliens in the country both b}^ birth and in ideas, 
have the Cubans' honor and property any better safeguard? Is the 
administration of justice good, or even endurable ? The very idea of 
a lawsuit frightens every honest Cuban. Nobody trusts the honesty 
or independence of the judges. Despite the provisions of the Con- 
stitution, without warrant and for indefinite time, imprisonments are 
most common in Cuba. The magistrates can tighten or loosen the 
elastic meshes of the judicial proceedings. They know well that if 
they curry favor with the government, they can do anything without 
incurring responsibility. They consider themselves, and without 
thinking it a disgrace, as mere political tools. The presidents and 
attorneys general of the "Audiencias " receive their instructions at 
the Captain General's office. Twice have the governors of Cuba 
aimed at establishing a special tribunal to deal with the offenses of 
the press, thereby undermining the Constitution. Twice has this spe- 
cial tribunal been established. More than once has a straightfor- 
ward and impartial judge been found to try a case in which the in- 
terests of influential people were involved. On such occasions the 
straightforward judge has been replaced by a special judge. 

in a country where money is wastefully spent to support a civil 
and military bureaucracy, the appropriation for the administration of 
justice does not reach $500,000. On the other hand, the sales of 
stamped paper constitute a revenue of $750,000. Thus the State de- 
rives a pecuniary profit from its administration of justice. 

Is it then a wonder that the reforms that have been attempted by 
establishing lower and higher courts to take cognizance of criminal 



22 

cases, and by introducing oral and public trials should not have con- 
tributed in the least to improve the administration of justice? Oner- 
ous services have been exacted from people without proper compen- 
sation as gratuitous services. The government, so splendidly liberal 
when its own expenses are in question, haggles for the last cent when 
dealing with truly useful and reproductive services. 

Is the Cuban compensated for his absolute deprivation of politi- 
cal power, the fiscal extortions, and the monstrous deficiencies of ju- 
dicial administration by the material prosperity of his country ? No 
man acquainted with the intimate relations which exist between the 
fiscal regime of a country and its economical system will believe that 
Cuba, crushed as it is by unreasonable budgets and an enormous debt, 
can be rich. The income of Cuba in the most prosperous times has 
been calculated at $80,000,000. The State, provincial and municipal 
charges take much more than 40 per cent, of this amount. This fact 
explains itself. We need not draw any inferences therefrom. Let us 
us confine ourselves to casting a glance over the aspect presented by 
the agricultural, industrial and real estate interests in Cuba at the 
beginning of the present year. 

Despite the prodigious efforts made by private individuals to ex- 
tend the cultivation of the sugar cane and to raise the sugar making 
industry to the plane it has reached, both the colonists and the pro- 
prietors of the sugar plantations and the sugar mills (centrales) are 
on the brink of bankruptcy and ruin. In selling the output they 
knew that they would not get sufficient means to cover the cost of 
keeping and repairing their colonies and sugar mills. There is not a 
single agricultural bank in Cuba. The "hacendado " (planter, land- 
owner) had to recur to usurious loans and to pay 18 and 20 per cent, 
for the sums which they borrowed. Not long ago there existed in 
Havana the Spanish Bank, the Bank of Commerce, the Industrial 
Bank, the Bank of St. Joseph, the Bank of the Alliance, the Bank of 
Maritime Insurances and the Savings Bank. Of these there remain 
to-day only the Spanish Bank, which has been converted into a vast 
State office, and the Bank of Commerce, which owes its existence to 
the railways and warehouses it possesses. None of these gives any 
aid to the sugar industry. 

The cigar-making industr}^, which was in such flourishing condi- 
tion a short time ago, has fallen so low that fears are entertained that 
it may emigrate entirely from Cuba. The weekly "El Tabaco " came 
to the conclusion that the exportation of cigars from Cuba would 
cease entirely within six years. From 1889 to 1894 the exportation 
from the port of Havana had decreased by 116,200,000 cigars. 

City real estate has fallen to one-half and in some cases to one- 
third the value it had before 1884. A building in Havana which was 
erected at a cost of $600,000, was sold in 1893 for $120,000. 

Stocks and bonds tell the same story. Almost all of them are 
quoted in Havana with heavy discounts. 



28 

The cause of the ruin of Cuba, despite her sugar output of one 
million tons and her vast tobacco fields, can be easily explained. Cuba 
does not capitalize, and it does not capitalize because the fiscal re- 
gime imposed upon the country does not permit it. The money de- 
rived from its large exportations does not return either in the form 
of importations of goods or of cash. It remains abroad to pay the 
interest of its huge debt, to cover the incessant remittances of funds 
by the Spaniards who hasten to send their earnings out of the coun- 
try, to pay from our treasury the pensioners who live in Spain, and 
to meet the drafts forwarded by every mail from Cuba by the Span- 
iards as a tribute to their political patrons in the Metropolis, and to 
help their families. 

Cuba pays $2,192,795 in pensions to those on the retired list and 
to superanuated officials not in service. Most of this money is ex- 
ported. The first chapters of the Cuban budget imply the exporta- 
tion of over $10,600,000. Cuba pays a subsidy of $471,836.68 to the 
Transatlantic Company. It avouM be impossible to calculate the 
amount of money taken out of Cuba by private individuals; but this 
constant exportation of capital signifies that nobody is contented in 
Cuba and that everybody mistrusts its future. The consequence is 
that, notwithstanding the apparently favorable commercial balance, 
exchange is constantly and to a high degree against Cuba. 

On the other hand, if Cuba labors and strives to be on the same 
plane as its most progressive competitors, this is the work of her own 
people, who do not mind any sacrifices; but the government cares 
little or nothing about securing to the country such means of 
furthering its development as are consigned in the budget under 
the head of "Fomento." 

And now, at the outbreak of the present war, Spain finds that, al- 
though the appropriations consigned in our budgets since 1878 amount 
to nearly $500,000,000, not a single military road has been built, 
no fortifications, no hospitals, and there is no material of war. 
The State has not provided even for its own defence. In view 
of this fact, nobody will be surprised to hear that a country 670 
kilometres long, with an area -of 118,833 square kilometres, has only 
246| lineal kilometres of high roads, and these almost exclusively in 
the Province of Havana. In that of Santiago de Cuba there are 9 
kilometres; in Puerte Principe and Las Villas not a single one. Cuba 
has 3,506 kilometres of sea shore and fifty four ports; only fifteen of 
those are open to commerce. In the labyrinth of keys, sand-banks 
and breakers adjacent to our coasts there are only nineteen light- 
houses of all classes. Many of our ports, some of the best among 
them, are filling up. The coasting steamers can hardly pass the bars 
at the entrance of the ports of Nuevitas, Gibara, Baracoa and Santi- 
ago de Cuba. Private parties have sometimes been willing to rem- 
edy these evils; but then the central administration has interfered, 
and after years of red tape, things have remained worse than before. 
In the course of twenty eight years only 139 kilometres of high-roads 



24 

were built in Cuba; two first-class light-bouses were erected, three 
second-class, one of the fourth-class, three beacon lights and two port 
lights; 246 metres of wharf were built, and a few ports were super- 
ficially cleaned and their shoals marked. This was all. On the other 
hand the department of public works consumes unlimited millions in 
salaries and in repairs. 

The neglect of public hygiene in Cuba is proverbial. The tech- 
nical commission sent by tke United States to Havana to study the 
yellow fever, declared that the port of the capital of Cuba, owing to 
its inconceivable filth, is a permanent source of infection, against 
which it is necessary to take precautions. There is in Havana, how- 
ever, a "Junta de Puerto " (Board of Port-wardens) which collects 
dues and spends them with the same munificence as the other bureau- 
cratic centres. 

Does the Government favor us more in the matter of education ? It 
will suffice to state that only $182,000 are assigned to public instruc- 
tion in our splendid budget. And it may be proved that the University 
of Havana is a source of pecuniary profit to the State. On the other 
hand, this institution is without laboratories, instruments and even 
without water to carry on experiments. All the countries of America, 
excepting Bolivia, all of them, including Hayti, Jamaica, Trinidad and 
Guadalupe, where the colored race predominates, spend a great deal 
more than the Cuban government for the education of the people. On 
the other hand, only Chili spends as much as Cuba for the support 
of an army. In view of this, it is easily explained why 76 per cent, 
of such an intelligent and wide-awake people as that of Cuba cannot 
read and write. The most necessary instruction among us, the tech- 
nical and industrial, does not exist. The careers and professions 
most needed by modern civilization are not cultivated in Cuba. In 
order to become a topographer, a scientific agriculturist, an electri- 
cist, an industrial or mechanical engiueer, a railroad or mining 
engineer, the Cuban has to go to a foreign country. The State in 
Cuba does not support a single public library. 

Are the deficiencies of the Spanish regime compensated by the 
wisdom of its administration ? Every time the Spanish government 
has undertaken the solution of any of the great problems pending in 
Cuba, it has only confused and made it worse. It has solved it 
blindly or yielded to the influence of those who were to profit by the 
change. It will be sufficient to recall the withdrawal from circulation 
of the bank notes, which proved to be a highly lucrative transaction for 
a few persons, but which only embarrassed and impaired the mone- 
tary circulation of the Island. From one day to another the cost of 
living became 40 per cent, dearer. The depreciated Spanish silver 
entered in circulation to drive out, as was natural, the "centen" 
(five-dollar gold coin), and make small transactions difficult. To 
reach these results the Spanish government had transformed a debt 
on which it had no interest to pay into a debt bearing a high rate of 



25 

interest. It is true that, in exchange, all the retail dealers, whose 
votes it was desirable to keep, derived very large profits from the 
operation. These dealers are, of course, Spaniards. 

IV. 

In exchange for all that Spain with olds from us, they say that it 
has given us liberties. This is a mockery. The liberties are written 
in the Constitution, but obliterated in its practical application. Before 
and after its promulgation the public press has been rigorously per- 
secuted in Cuba. Many journalists, such as Sehores Cepeda and 
Lopes Brihas, have been banished from the country without the for- 
mality of a trial. In November of 1891 the writer Don Manuel A. 
Balmaseda was tried bv court martial for having published an edi- 
torial paragraph in "El Criterio Popular" of Kemedios relative to the 
shooting of the medical students. The newspapers have been allowed 
to discuss public affairs theoretically; but the moment they denounce 
any abuse or the conduct of any official they feel the hand of their 
rulers laid upon them. The official organ of the home-rule party, 
"El Pais," named before "El Triunfo," has undergone more than one 
trial for having pointed in measured terms to some infractions of the 
law on the part of officials, naming the transgressors. In 1887 that 
periodical was subjected to criminal proceedings simply because it 
had stated that a son of the president of the Havana "Audiencia" 
was holding a certain office contrary to law. 

They say that in Cuba the people are at liberty to hold public 
meetings, but every time the inhabitants assemble, previous notifica- 
tion must be given to the authorities, and a functionary is appointed 
to be present, with power to suspend the meeting whenever he deems 
such a measure advisable. The meetings of the 'Circulo de Traba- 
jadores" (an association of workingmen) were forbidden by the Au- 
thorities under the pretext that the building where they were to be 
held was not sufficiently safe. Last year the members of the "Cir- 
culo de Hacendados" (association of planters) invited their fellow 
members throughout the country to get up a great demonstration to 
demand a remedy which the critical state of their affairs required. The. 
government found means to prevent their meeting. One of the most 
significant events that have occurred in Cuba, and one which throws 
a flood of light upon its political regime, was the failure of the "Junta 
Magna" (an extraordinary meeting) projected by the "Circulo de Ha- 
cendados." This corporation solicited the co-operation of the "Soci- 
eclad Economical and of the "Junta General de Comercio " to hold a 
meeting for the purpose of sending to the Metropolis the complaints 
which the precarious situation of the country inspired. The work of 
preparation was already far advanced, when a friend of the govern- 
ment, Sehor Bodriguez Correa, stated that the Governor General 
looked with displeasure upon and forbade the holding of the great meet- 
ing. This was sufficient to frighten the "Circulo" and to secure the 



26 

failure of the project. It is then evident that the inhabitants of Cuba 
can have meetings only when the government thinks it advisable to 
permit them. 

Against this political regime, which is a sarcasm, and in which 
deception is added to the most absolute contempt for right, the Cubans 
have unceasingly protested since it was implanted in 1878. It would 
be difficult to enumerate the representations made in Spain, the pro- 
tests voiced by the representatives of Cuba, the commissions that 
have crossed the ocean to try to impress upon the exploiters of Cuba 
what the fatal consequences of their obstinacy would be. The exas- 
peration prevailing in the country was such, that the "Junta Central" 
of the home-rule party issued in 1892 a manifesto in which it for- 
shadowed that the moment might shortly arrive when the country 
would resort to "extreme measures, the resj)onsibility of which would 
fall on those who, led by arrogance and priding themselves on their 
power, hold prudence in contempt, worship force and shield them- 
selves with their impunity." 

This manifesto, which foreboded the mournful hours of the pres~_ 
ent war, - ~r ? unheeded by Spain, and not until a division took place 
in the Spanish party, which threatened to turn into an armed strug- 
gle, did the statesmen of Spain think that the moment had arrived to 
try a new farce, and to make a false show of reform, in the adminis- 
trative regime of Cuba. Then was Minister Maura's plan broached, 
to be modified before its birth by Minister Abarzuas. 

This project, to which the Spaniards have endeavored to give 
capital importance in order to condemn the revolution as the work 
of impatience and anarchism, leaves intact the political regime of 
Cuba. It does not alter the electoral law. It does not curtail the 
power of the bureaucracy. It increases the power of the general 
government. It leaves the same burdens upon the Cuban tax-payer, 
and does not give him the right to participate in the formation of the 
budgets. The reform is confined to the changing of the Council of 
Administration, (now in existence in the Island, and the members of 
which are appointed by the government,) into a partially elective 
body. One half of its members are to be appointed by the govern- 
ment, and the other half to be elected by the qualified electors, that 
is, who assessed and pay for a certain amount of taxes. The Gover- 
nor General has the right to veto all its resolutions, and to suspend 
at will the elective members. This Council is to make up a kind of 
special budget embracing the items included now in the general bud- 
get of Cuba under the head of "Fomento." The State reserves for 
itself all the rest. Thus the Council can dispose of 2.75 per cent, of 



27 

of the revenues of Cuba, while the government distributes, as at pre- 
sent, 97,25 per cent, for its expenses, in the form we have explained. 
The general budget will as heretofore be made up in Spain; the 
tariff laws will be enacted by Spain. The debt, militarism and bure- 
aucracy will continue to devour Cuba, and the Cubans will continue 
to be treated as a subjugated people. All power is to continue in the 
hands of the Spanish government and its delegates in Cuba, and all 
the influence with the Spanish residents. This is the self-government 
which Spain has promised to Cuba, and which it is announcing to the 
world, in exchange for its colonial system. A far better form of gov- 
ernment is enjoyed by the Bahama or the Turks Islands. 

The Cubans would have been wanting not only in self-respect, 
but even in the instincts of self-preservation, if they could have en- 
dured such a degrading and destructive regime. Their grievances 
are of such a nature, that no people, no human community capable 
of valuing its honor and of aspiring to better its condition, could bear 
them without degrading and condemning itself to uttei^ Nullity and 
annihilation. 

Spain denies to the Cubans all effective powers in their own 
country. 

Spain condemns the Cubans to a political inferiority in the land 
where they are born. 

Spain confiscates the product of the Cubans' labor, without giving 
them in return either safety, prosperity or education. 

Spain has shown itself utterly incapable of governing Cuba. 

Spain exploits, impoverishes and demoralizes Cuba. 

To maintain by force of arms this monstrous regime, which 
brings ruin on a country rich by nature and degrades a vigorous and 
intelligent population, a population filled with noble aspirations, is 
what Spain calls to defend its honor and to preserve the prestige of 
its social functions as a civilizing power of America. 

The Cubans, not in anger but in despair, have appealed to arms 
in order to defend their rights and to vindicate an eternal principle, 
a principle without which every community, however robust in ap- 
pearance, is in danger — the principle of justice. Nobody has the 
right of oppression. Spain oppresses us. In rebelling against op- 
pression, we defend a right. In serving our own cause we serve the 
cause of mankind. 



28 

We have not counted the number of our enemies; we have not 
measured their strength. We have cast up the account of our griev- 
ances: we have weighed the mass of injustice that crushes us, and 
with uplifted hearts we have risen to seek redress and to uphold our 
rights. We may find rain and death a few steps ahead. 80 be it. We 
do our duty. If the world is indifferent to our cause, so much the 
worse for all. A new iniquity shall have been consumated. The 
principle of human solidarity shall have suffered a defeat. The sum 
of good existing in the world, and which the world needs to purify 
its moral atmosphere, shall have been lessened. 

The people of Cuba require only liberty and independence to be- 
come a factor of prosperity and progress in the community of civil- 
ized nations. At present Cuba is a factor of intranquility, disturb- 
ance and ruin. The fault lies entirely with Spain. Cuba is not the 
offender; it is the defender of its rights. Let America, let the world 
decide where rest justice and right. 

ENRIQUE JOSE VABONA, 

Ex-Diputado a Cortes. 

New .York, October 23, 1895. 



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